Attitudes towards wolves under different governance systems

Abstract

As large carnivore populations are recovering in Europe and recolonizing areas where they have been absent for decades, understanding human conflicts over their management is of paramount importance in order to achieve... [ view full abstract ]

As large carnivore populations are recovering in Europe and recolonizing areas where they have been absent for decades, understanding human conflicts over their management is of paramount importance in order to achieve functional coexistence. In Spain, wolf management is decentralized to the regional level, meaning that the management of different segments of the same wolf population differs considerably across short distances. We studied the social, cultural and political drivers of conflict and coexistence with wolves under different governance systems across the Cantabrian Mountains. We focused on the impact of governance on farmers’ and hunters’ attitudes towards wolves, and on farmer’s adoption of strategies to prevent livestock depredations by wolves. We collected quantitative and qualitative data across four study sites through face to face interviews with a representative sample of livestock farmers and hunters (n=400). The sites were chosen based on the different hunting, damage compensation and land ownership systems in place, representing a spectrum of governance systems ranging from centralized to relatively devolved forms of management. Quantitative measures of attitudes were complemented with a thematic analysis of qualitative data collected from the same respondents as well as from key informants (n=60). The qualitative analysis provides a deeper understanding of the underlying drivers of conflict and explores how local perceptions of rights to land and wildlife use vary across the study sites. Stakeholders’ perceptions of wolf hunting and damage compensation systems are discussed within the broader governance context, and notions of equity and justice regarding the distribution of the costs and benefits of wildlife are explored. Our findings support the idea that conflict over large carnivore management is representative of much deeper issues regarding contested access to and ownership of land, notions of sovereignty and of self-determination. Results point to the need to develop management strategies that are culturally sensitive down to a very fine scale and highlight the challenges that this presents, as managers attempt to balance locally specific management strategies with conservation goals and greater public interests. The conclusions we draw are specific to wolf management in the Cantabrian Mountains but they are also relevant to highland Europe at large, where similar trends of depopulation and loss of political influence are taking place, and where the topic of centralized vs. devolved forms of carnivore management is intensely debated.